Pages

Friday, June 27, 2008

Gentle June

June is the best month of all. June is the month when 18 year old Hermanito can finally doze outdoors on the warm cement behind the deck. He is nearly blind now and we are doing that dance with the vet and special care to give him pleasant days. Just when we think he will fail he rises again. He is part of our history. Moved house with us when we left Orenco. Owns our hearts completely and knows it. Today he was comforted with the sweetness of a perfect June day.

"Sheer Bliss" roses on the table following last night's Solstice Party with our friends. More about that later.

John's sugar peas are topping 9 feet now. They tried to make a lunge for the ground the other day but I subdued them with 2 rakes while John bound them back up with twine. They are ripe along with about a million strawberries.

Dozy poppies, swaying among the purple kales.

Buttery "Graham Thomas", lording it over the pathway so that it's a danger to try and pass by. Mercurochrome for my wounded forearms.

"Touch of Class" looking superior in her tall, proud form, not one bit ashamed of the fact that her perfume is somewhat underwhelming.

Plenty of rhubarb for this fanatic. I froze 3 quarts and made a big pan of crisp for our gathering.

We had 9 good farming souls over to welcome the long sweet days of summer.

Everyone brought a dish or two. Chavo brought a tray of beautiful food and made sushi as we watched.

He has a wonderful technique for rolling the nori that is brilliant and much easier to eat than the 'bite-sized' pieces that are too big for one bite and fall to pieces when you try to bite them in two.

Simply put, he rolls the sushi into cones with all the ingredients piled inside like a nosegay of flowers. They are so easy to handle!

Little Tao surprised us all by crawling for the first time as we watched him. There's nothing better than watching a baby take his first ambitious tries at a new skill. Think of the bravery of taking that first step in your life. We were all, "go, baby. Go!"

Beautiful boy. Pass him around and let all the elders have a smell of his brand new self. Chavo showed us an amazing thing; the Mongolian triangle. On his little butt, just above the fold, is a bluish area of skin that is on every dark skinned baby until they are about 6 years old. It looked like the color of a bruise and was about the size of my palm (smallish). Did you guys know about that? We laughed about knowing about the Bermuda triangle, the fertile triangle and so on but that we'd never known about the Mongolian triangle. I love learning odd new things, don't you?

Then today I went to Linda's for a critique with Andrea (above), and Serena. I didn't take work this time but we had a lively discussion about why you should put the stories behind your paintings into words and we tried to help each other see what was working well in each others' work. This was a follow up to the Artists Statement workshop and why the rest of the group did not join us.

This rose is "Heritage", a heavily fragrant David Austin that begs to be inhaled with eyes closed. So many beautiful roses. So many beautiful friends. Each unique. What a fine and mysterious life this is; what a heavenly creation.

Edit: If you Google "Mongolian Spots" and click on images you'll see a wide variety.

18 comments:

Judy, thanks for such lovely pictures - the sweet elderly gentleman(your dear kittie), the gorgeous roses, fun with friends and adorable baby. Wow, what a colorful (literally) life you have. I LOVE the two mixed media pieces!!! the background is scrumptious!! I need to update my blog!! Guilt,guilt...now I am inspired! Thanks!!Debhttp://artmom-makingtimecount.blogspot.com/

The roses, peas, baby, sushi - everything is tremendously exquisite. I could smell the roses and am still reeling at the thought of being a magician. I loved that from your post before this one. Thanks for sharing such insights - plus the Mongolian triangle. Yes, I love learning odd new things. - jeanne

What beautiful company!! Look at that face on little Tao!! I could just kiss on that forever!!My sister, an adopted Korean, had really pronounced and severe "Mongolian spots" (as we were told they were called. So bad, in fact, that when she arrived at the baby sitter's to pick her up after a long day running errands, there were police waiting to cart her off to jail for child abuse. It's something we all laugh about now (sister is 26) but at the time, it was months of investigations, doctors reports etc. to prove that mom and dad didn't beat her...that they were Mongolian spots. Can you imagine the horror??!!

Your land seems so nourishing with all that you are tending to on it. I could be very much at home there...you'd better lock the front gate lest I show up unannounced. :)

mongolian triangle/spot! ah-ha! My little guy has one. It is really small and it is actually triangle shaped. I've always wondered about it, but since it was so small and been there since birth I didn't even bring it up to the doctor. And now I can put a name to it!

What a beautiful, serene companion, Hermanito is. I know the anguished feelings well. We have a seventeen year old little female equivalent, she has been to the vet twice now and we didn't expect to bring her home, but the vet says, she's not ready yet, so we are able to enjoy her company a little longer.

Love the other photos too. What delicious food, I can taste it from here.Roxo

Hi Judy: Thank you sooo much for the beautiful post(s) - words, pictures, tastes, babies, how wonderful life is : ) Thank you for your caring, loving spirit, it lifts me even higher when I think I'm as high in spirit as I can be : )Love & Blessings, Sandra in AZ

Judy,my "kitty girl" aka:cellar dweller is aging fast also! Sigh,since puppyboy aka:PeterPan entered our lives she won't come upstairs unless he is out walking...so I must go down and visit her,until she comes up briefly to kiss me and run back down. I can't go thru this with loved pets much more.

Hi Judy: I looked for your e-mail add to no avail. I've already left a comment on this post but have a question about "sticky brown rice" do you have a recipe for it ?? loooks/sounds sooo goood I'd like to try it : ) Sandra in AZ - TwoFriends@npgcable.com

I commented the other day on your report on the Art Festival but blogger coughed it back out.

I have been having a blast with my Akua inks, Susan was so great to send them to me. I found a co-op print studio here in ATL that I am going to make my second home as soon as it cools off. They have great presses and a legion of letterpress type but no AC.

Follow by Email

Google Website Translator Gadget

Judy Wise is an Oregon artist and teacher who has worked as a printmaker and painter for four decades. She has exhibited and taught in the USA, Mexico, Australia, Indonesia, Spain and the Netherlands.
Follow her on Instagram at judywiseart